Review: HTC Rhyme for Verizon Wireless

The Rhyme can access all of the apps in the Android Market and more. If you want apps, there are plenty out there. The phone itself doesn't ship with too, too many pre-installed applications. Just the usual Verizon-branded stuff. There's plenty of memory (823MB) available for you to install applications on the internal memory — not to mention the included 8GB microSD card.

Bluetooth

The Rhyme can connect with mono and stereo headsets with no problems. I didn't encounter any issues when pairing different devices, though sound quality through both mono and stereo headsets was average. The Rhyme can also be used to push pictures (and other files) between devices, such as PCs or other phones.

Clock

The Rhyme is one of the first HTC devices I've seen that has a nearly-impossible-to-see lock screen clock. It's tiny, faint, and the font is way too thin. You have to hold the phone close to see it, and bright sunlight washes it out.

Beyond the lock screen, there are a host of different digital and analog clock faces from which users can pick. The HTC Clock app is crazy good. Basically, every clock-related function you can think of is packed in, such as stopwatch, countdown timer alarms, world clocks, etc. The weather is thrown in for good measure. It looks classy and is a breeze to use.

GPS

Both VZNavigator and Google Maps are installed on the Rhyme out of the box. Both offer voice-guided turn-by-turn directions between points, and can re-route you if you get lost. Google Maps is particularly impressive because it now offers offline use (in case you roam out of network coverage) as well as 3D maps for a limited number of cities. The VZNavigator software is very good, but it costs $10 per month to use.

Mobile Hotspot

The Rhyme supports the mobile hotspot features, allowing up to five other Wi-Fi devices to connect to the internet via Verizon's 3G network. The software is fairly intuitive and I had no trouble setting up a hotspot and connecting several devices.